Earlier this year, the Center for Global Health at Connecticut Children’s hosted its portion of the University of Connecticut Global Health Symposium. This Symposium is the evolution of an annual event held at Connecticut Children’s for over a decade. Originally a Global Health Fair, this day has allowed learners, staff, and faculty to share their experiences in pediatric care outside of the US. Initially an independent activity, in recent years, we have collaborated with the UCONN undergraduate organization Global Health Spaces on Campus (GloHSOC) and UCONN Health and School of Medicine to create a university-wide experience. This year, the Symposium focused on Social Determinants of Health, with Connecticut Children’s specifically addressing “Access to affordable health services of decent quality” and “Food insecurity.”
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Patricia McQuilkin
This year, we were fortunate to have two remarkable keynote speakers. Dr. Patricia McQuilkin, who recently joined the Department of Indigenous and Global Health in the Division of General Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, spoke on access to healthcare. In this role, she is working closely with Native American populations. Dr. McQuilkin is also well-known as a pioneer in global health education. During her impressive career at UMASS Amherst, she established the first pediatric global health residency track, developed a comprehensive curriculum, implemented many clinical rotations, and trained countless leaders in pediatric global health. She also created the UMASS Medical School pediatric global health fellowship program, a two-year post-residency fellowship combining a master’s degree (MPH or MSCI) with 12 months of field experience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). At the symposium, she specifically discussed her experience during an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia. Dr. McQuilkin was the architect of a grant proposal submitted by UMASS Medical School that was chosen for funding by the Paul Allen Foundation, which placed her in the middle of the Ebola epidemic. Her presentation was inspirational and a perfect start to the event.
Dr. Parminder Suchdev
Our second keynote speaker was Dr. Parminder Suchdev, a respected and experienced Spanish-speaking physician, epidemiologist, and global health leader with 20 years of experience in public health research and program evaluation, interdisciplinary global health education, clinical pediatrics, and program management. During his career at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), he has mentored over 75 trainees and professionals, led collaborative global health research with diverse partner organizations in 15 countries, published over 125 papers (with 61 as first or senior author), and built sustainable academic global health training programs. He currently has two multimillion-dollar grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and over $3 million in previous grant support. In his role as a member of the faculty in Nutrition and Health Sciences at Emory University, he spoke to us about another social determinant of health, food insecurity, while on sabbatical in Central America as the lead epidemiologist for the CDC’s Division of Global Health Protection. His presentation was another amazing opportunity for symposium attendees and participants, given Dr. Suchdev’s experience and expertise.
We are Global Citizens
Through the yearly Global Health Symposium, the Center for Global Health reinforces the idea that we, the Connecticut Children’s community, are global citizens with the opportunity to improve child health anywhere and everywhere in the world. Lessons learned while participating in global health activities improve clinical practice, increase cultural humility, foster appreciation for diversity, and enhance tolerance of differences, ultimately leading to better care for children in our own communities here in Connecticut.